Originally Posted by: ChristopherSchlegel

That's where the music notation is invaluable.

+1

Hi Mike!

[br]Two years in, for me the key and rhythm progression/chords can frequently be worked out by listening to the original recording of a song -complexity dependent, but for melody, at this juncture I still rely upon the generosity of someone else's transcription (see post #2), sheet music, or quality instructive vid (third guitar here. Edit: this is a better illustrative example) rather than transcribing note by note by ear myself, a skill I'm yet to develop to the level of competency required to achieve that with confidence, accurately and other than painfully slowly.

You'll note in that sheet music example I presented extracted from this compendium, it also [u]contains notation for the vocal melody[/u].

Transcribing melody note by note? Appreciating that it might be of a higher priority for you, but [u]for me[/u], my pragmatic approach is that it's an 'all in good time over time' conjunctive skill in development project as at this juncture of my musical and guitar education, it'd just be a frustrating [u]obstacle[/u] taking an inordinate amount of time away from areas I should be focussing right [u]now,[/u] as I perceive the structured learning curve.

Right now, I'm focussed upon triaging my concentration and time towards developing those other skills guitar no-one else can do for me. As always, with respect YMMV.

[br]Cheers,

manX